Your excellency, Firas Khouri, Chair of the Committee of Permanent Representatives,
Ambassadors and colleagues.
Welcome to the 168th meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR), a community that is truly growing in size, scope and influence. Over the last two years, another 20 members have been accredited to this body. We now stand at 150, which is unequivocal proof of the vibrancy of Nairobi’s multilateral scene. My deep thanks to new and existing members for your engagement and leadership.
I would like to welcome UNEP’s new Director of Corporate Services Division, Ms. Soomi Ro, who joins us today for the first time. Soomi has extensive experience in administration across the UN system. This includes corporate support services, global supply chain management, resource mobilization and much more.
With past postings on the operational front line of peacekeeping, administration and management in New York, and with her last role as Director of Administration at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, I am very confident that Soomi will continue UNEP’s efforts towards greater efficiency, effectiveness and impact.
My huge thanks go to our Deputy Executive Director, Elizabeth Mrema, who unfortunately cannot join us today, for her work doubling up as the Acting Director of Corporate Services over the last 15 long months. Elizabeth has done an amazing job, despite the heavy demands as Deputy Executive Director. I am immensely grateful for her leadership.
I would also like to congratulate Ulf Björnholm, the Deputy Secretary, on his temporary appointment as the Secretary of the Governing Bodies of UN-Habitat. We wish him the best in his new role and thank him for his contribution to UNEP.
Excellencies,
It has been a hectic period since the last CPR meeting. We saw the Summit of the Future and the general debate of the General Assembly (UNGA), G20 meetings, three gatherings of the Rio Conventions, negotiations on plastic pollution and more. These moments delivered both encouraging successes and some disappointments in global efforts to tackle the three planetary environmental crises – the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature, biodiversity and land loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste.
The headlines have focused on delays and insufficient progress in some areas, particularly around financing and around ambition. I understand the frustration that many Member States and observers feel. And I share the concerns of citizens across the world over the pace of action. Nonetheless the international community did land certain key decisions amid a turbulent geopolitical background. Decisions which were significant and will help us move forward.
Allow me to review some of these, starting with the Pact for the Future.
The Pact is a milestone in the 79-year history of the United Nations and raises the bar of our collective ambition. In the Pact, Member States commit to modernizing the peace and security agenda.
The Pact speaks to the need to reform the international financial architecture to better serve developing countries as they pursue sustainable development. The Pact emphasizes the need for climate action, including transitioning away from fossil fuels. And the Pact lays out commitments on plastics, chemicals, biodiversity, desertification and the governance of Artificial Intelligence – on which UNEP recently released a well-received Issues Note regarding the environmental impact of this growing technology.
The Pact matters because it sets a new global standard after 79 years. It matters because everything it covers can have a huge positive impact on the environment. We at UNEP are ready to support implementation, and we will seek to reflect relevant elements of the Pact in the new UNEP Medium-Term Strategy.
Also at UNGA, the High-level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance released a political declaration that included a commitment to cut 10 per cent off the estimated 4.95 million deaths associated with bacterial antimicrobial resistance each year by 2030. UNEP will continue to play a leading role – with our friends in the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Organisation for Animal Health – in the global response to antimicrobial resistance. And we do that through a One Health approach that combines human, animal, plant and environmental health.
There were also significant developments at the Convention on Biological Diversity COP16.
After lengthy discussions, a milestone decision, a massive decision, was reached to give Indigenous Peoples, people of African descent and their communities recognition as rights-holders in biodiversity conservation – thereby creating a subsidiary body for these communities under article 8J of the convention.
Another significant decision was the creation of the Cali Fund. This fund will be composed of contributions from the use of digital sequence information – genetic codes coming from samples of organisms that are often shared digitally. Companies using this information to develop products, such as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, should allocate part of their earnings to this fund, from which resources will be allocated to communities and Indigenous Peoples, directly or through governments. The aim is to ensure fair and equitable distribution of profits from the use of such information. There is more work to be done in this regard, but it is nonetheless a milestone.
Unfortunately, COP16 ran out of time. Decisions on resource mobilization and monitoring were carried over to the resumed session in Rome, which is scheduled for February. But other progress was made outside of negotiations.
For example, the China-funded Kunming Biodiversity Fund, which provides financial and technical support for the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), approved its first projects. Also on the sidelines of the COP, UNEP’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre launched the Protected Planet Report, which concludes that 18 per cent of land and inland waters and 8 per cent of ocean and coastal areas are now protected. Yes, work needs to accelerate, but this is tangible progress towards the GBF target to protect 30 per cent of the Earth by 2030.
My congratulations to Colombia for the successful hosting of the COP in a beautiful city that I did not know but have now fallen in love with.
At the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change COP29, a notable achievement was the progress on carbon markets. After nearly a decade of work, countries have agreed on the final building blocks that set out how carbon markets will operate under the Paris Agreement, making country-to-country trading and a carbon crediting mechanism fully operational.
On day one of the COP, countries agreed standards for a centralized carbon market under the UN. This is good news for developing countries, who can now benefit from new flows of finance and receive the capacity-building support they need to get a foothold in the market.
On country-to-country trading, which is also important, the decision out of COP29 provides clarity on how countries will authorize the trade of carbon credits and how registries tracking this will operate. And there is now reassurance that environmental integrity will be ensured up front through transparent technical reviews.
But the central focus of COP29 was on climate finance. Here, the COP did not come up with the number that many had hoped for. However, after a tense finale, Parties agreed to a New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance, which will triple finance to developing countries from the previous goal of US$100 billion to US$300 billion annually by 2035. And Parties agreed to secure the efforts of all actors, public and private, on scaling up finance to developing countries to US$1.3 trillion per year by 2035.
Much remains to be done on climate – a point emphasized by UNEP’s Adaptation and Emissions Gap Reports, which were cited throughout COP29. To stay on track for 1.5°C by 2100, we need to see a 42 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions between now and 2030. That is huge. And in 2023, our emissions went up by 1.3 per cent. So, G20 members, which are together responsible for 77 per cent of global emissions, not counting the African Union, have a significant job to do.
The next round of Nationally Determined Contributions, due by February, will be crucial to closing this gap. All Member States must make a massive stretch in ambition to live up to the 1.5°C promise. We recognize the historical trail of CO2 and the greater responsibility of some, but we are calling for everyone to act, or we will scoot right past 1.5°C. And it does remain mathematically possible to achieve 1.5°C – with rapid and massive investments in solar, wind and forestry, as well as tackling methane, construction and cooling and much more.
UNEP’s work through the International Methane Emissions Observatory, highlighted at COP29, shows that quick, untapped gains are possible. Over the last few years, the observatory’s satellite system issued 1,200 notifications of major methane leaks. Addressing just two of those leaks helped prevent the release of greenhouse gases equivalent to what one million cars produce annually. With action and attention on sustainable cooling, critical energy transition minerals and private sector finance also growing during COP29, there is hope that the heavy lift ahead can be done.
My deep appreciation to the government of Azerbaijan for also hosting a magnificent and exceptionally well-planned COP in beautiful Baku, another city we have fallen in love with.
Excellencies, in Busan, Republic of Korea, nations made progress toward crafting a global instrument to end plastic pollution.
While the talks were adjourned, the ambition of UNEA Resolution 5/14 does not end. The commitment to creating an instrument that stands the test of time continues.
Some key advances were made during the talks, known as INC-5, with the establishment of a structured framework and articles for a future instrument. This is reflected in the Chair’s Text, which the Committee agreed to use as a foundation for concluding negotiations at the resumed session.
This document finalized 29 out of 32 articles. Brackets remain in three pivotal areas where divergence remains, and where political solutions are required. These areas are products, including the issue of chemicals. Supply, or sustainable production and consumption. And financing, as well as scope.
The differences among Member States are now crystal clear. While complex, these differences are not insurmountable. It is essential for Member States to find ways to resolve these differences before INC-5.2 begins. Continuing to insist on differing positions will not lead to the agreement that the world wants.
It is an undeniable fact that the world has charged this body with finding a way to end plastic pollution. We heard this call loud and clear from the hundreds of observers, and people across the entire UN. We heard businesses calling for global rules. We saw countries agreeing the Pact for the Future with specific backing for a deal to end plastic pollution.
We saw the G20 Leaders Declaration indicating that they are determined to land an ambitious, fair and transparent instrument. Therefore, we at UNEP look forward to supporting Member States in this work as we carry it forward into the resumed session.
Meanwhile, UNEP, the UN Capital Development Fund and the International Finance Corporation are starting a collaboration to facilitate private sector investments in solutions across the life cycle of plastics. We launched that on the sidelines of the Baku COP.
We are all determined to end plastic pollution and commit to working together with the ambition to conclude, before the next UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7), the negotiation of an ambitious, fair and transparent international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution. I call on all Member States to lean in.
Finally, there was another COP that we must not forget. Just this Saturday morning, the gavel went down on UN Convention to Combat Desertification COP16 in beautiful Riyadh.
The COP saw the launch of the Riyadh Action Agenda. It saw US$12 billion committed in loans and grants for land restoration and drought resilience initiatives. It also launched the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, which will work to leverage public and private finance in support of 80 of the most vulnerable and drought-hit countries around the world. This comes in addition to regional initiatives to improve global capacity for forecasting dust and sandstorms and mitigating their impacts.
While the COP did not manage to land an Open-Ended Working Group to negotiate an instrument on drought, it raised the visibility of the land restoration agenda and put a massive spotlight on the issue of drought and the convention itself.
So, again, two beautiful cities, Busan and Riyadh, hosted us marvellously with fantastic arrangements. We are very grateful to both cities.
Excellencies, the last few months have indisputably demonstrated tangible progress, albeit with some disappointments along the way. Next year must bring a further rise in action to build on this progress – through stronger climate pledges, through stronger financing across the three crises, through an agreement on the plastic pollution treaty text and through the completion of negotiations on the science-policy panel on chemicals, waste and pollution.
UNEA-7 will push us forward even faster, and we now have a theme to work towards: Advancing Sustainable Solutions for a Resilient Planet. At UNEA-7, there will be an emphasis on joined-up action across the planetary environmental crises, with a dedicated day on Multilateral Environmental Agreements again taking place. I encourage all Member States to start reflecting on how they will show up at UNEA-7 and the emphasis they want to bring to the table in December next year.
Excellencies,
My thanks go to all Member States that have contributed financially to UNEP’s work. We are very grateful. By the end of November, 89 Member States had contributed just under US$90 million against the approved Environment Fund budget of US$100 million for 2024. Some 55 of these 89 contributors have paid their full share. This is an amazing record. I am in awe of this commitment.
With two weeks left of the year, I encourage every Member State that has not yet contributed to help us close the funding gap. We only need eight more Member States to say that over half of the UN membership has contributed. That would be another breakthrough. I also encourage those that have not yet paid their full share to come in.
I am also pleased to say that the UNEP Planetary Funds – for Climate, Nature and Pollution – have been opening new avenues for financial sustainability. As you will find in the first biennial report on your desks, the US$30 million raised so far has delivered impressive impacts.
My thanks to Belgium, Finland, Norway and the Philippines for their support to the Planetary Funds. And thanks also to the Czech Republic, which has just made a pledge to the Pollution Fund.
I call upon all Member States to consider these funds as an alternative to tightly earmarked funds. Their flexible structure allows UNEP to deliver on its mandate with innovation and future orientation.
I would also like to flag an issue around the seventh Global Environment Outlook, which is due to be launched at UNEA-7. While the Summary for Policy Makers will be made available in all six official UN languages, we would also like to translate the full report into all languages. To do so, we will need extra budgetary or in-kind contributions. I therefore encourage Member States to consider sponsoring this effort.
Finally, please let me draw your attention to a survey that you now have in your inboxes. This online questionnaire from the Joint Inspection Unit is part of a management and administration review of UNEP. Your feedback would be helpful, so pleased do take the time to fill it in.
Excellencies,
Thank you for allowing me the time to share this long but important update, which covers significant milestone events.
As 2024 comes to an end, it is clear the world has moved forward on some key issues and stalled on some others. With the clock ticking down to 2030, with the Sustainable Development Goals and many important deadlines, next year must bring progress across the board, on key issues. A stronger UNEP will do its utmost to help make this happen, and I am sure we can count on you to do the same.
